The Cognitive Dependency and the Quest for Sovereignty

In 'El Archipiélago', Roberto Chuit Roganovich presents a bold vision for a practical humanism and a pangeist politics, urging a return to a world we should never have left. The book, paired with Alejandro Galliano's 'La Máquina Ingobernable', offers a diagnosis of the post-capitalist platform era under Javier Milei's presidency. Roganovich, a CONICET scholar and award-winning novelist, navigates the complexities of modern desires, bodies, and relationships, transforming personal neuroses into a political agenda.

The book critiques the 'politicismo' of the past, proposing a new periodization based on political, technological, and financial events like the 2008 crisis and the rise of bitcoin. Despite the promise of financial sovereignty, Roganovich acknowledges the dominance of major virtual vaults and companies in the bitcoin market. He critiques the neoliberal progressive consensus for believing political will can replace material conditions.

Roganovich explores the exhaustion within philosophy and academia, arguing for a return to academia as a guide for citizens. He critiques the 'gatekeeping' that has fueled anti-intellectualism and calls for a reconnection with those ejected from academic discourse. The book acknowledges the state's role in fostering dependency, likening it to an umbilical cord for progressive thought.

The concept of 'cognitive sovereignty' emerges as a solution, advocating for offline and online tactics to resist fascism and reclaim 'analog time'. Roganovich suggests activities like writing workshops and sports as means of fostering community, though he questions their political efficacy. Online, he proposes 'clusterization'—infiltrating fan communities with political content.

Roganovich critiques the importation of cultural and political strategies from the global north, lamenting the lack of local resistance examples. He acknowledges the failure of the left to imagine the future, attributing it to a nostalgia for a past that never was. The book concludes with a call for decentralized political engagement, suggesting that sovereignty lies in the ability to control one's digital and physical environments.

Ultimately, 'El Archipiélago' is a reflection on the failures and potential of progressive politics, urging a reimagining of political engagement that transcends state dependency and embraces individual and collective sovereignty.